Russna Kaur: it is not easy to find a dark place when the sky seems four times greater

REMAI MODERN, November 4, 2022 – February 5, 2023

Russna Kaur’s creative process often begins with writing, rearranging words on a page much in the same way she manipulates paint on a surface. Working between digital sketches and physical media, Kaur combines multiple paintings to create large-scale modular compositions. Rather than approaching painting as a fixed, singular object, Kaur’s works are unbound, expansive and adaptable.  

Kaur’s formal approach reflects her ideas about painting as a way of observing the world. She uses colour to variously conceal or reveal, line to connect or sever relationships within a composition, and texture to unite otherwise contradictory surfaces.

For her project at Remai Modern, it is not easy to find a dark place when the sky seems four times greater, Kaur extends her painting onto the museum wall. Located in the Level 2 elevator alcove, the painting breaks through the frame and challenges the restriction presented by the edge of the canvas.

Moving between minor details and broad views, Kaur’s multilayered works are embedded with diverse references including the spectacle of amusement parks, flea markets and religious spaces—sites of overstimulation, observance and illusion. Growing up as the eldest daughter in a Punjabi household, her study of biology, work in the Indian wedding industry and commercial surface and textile design also influenced her way of looking and making. Kaur describes her paintings as “abstractions of real life, exploring how a surface can reveal a narrative that addresses complex personal and cultural histories.”

Russna Kaur: Thoughts on Line
At the moment I feel like line still stems from restriction or playing within boundary, pushing but

not too far – hugging the edge of the surface, caressing the corner of a wall, clutching or

clinging to one another – mom always used to tell us to keep one hand on the shopping cart so

we wouldn’t get lost – one hand gripped tight and the other flaying around reaching, grabbing

and pointing to the world around; free but tethered